Nahum 2:10

10 Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, desolate! Hearts melt with fear; knees tremble, strength is gone; faces grow pale.

Nahum 2:10 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 2:10

She is empty, and void, and waste
The city of Nineveh, empty of inhabitants, being killed, or having fled; and stripped of all its treasures and riches by the enemies; its walls and houses demolished and pulled down, and laid in ruins, and become a heap of rubbish; (See Gill on Nahum 1:8). Various words are here used to ascertain and confirm the thing; and there is an elegant play on words or likeness of sounds, which our language will not express: and the heart melteth;
the heart of every inhabitant of Nineveh melted with fear at the approach of their enemies, their entrance into the city, and plunder of it; flowed like water, or melted like wax; see ( Psalms 22:14 ) : and the knees smite together;
like people in a fright, and when a panic has seized them; and as it was with Belshazzar, ( Daniel 5:6 ) : and much pain [is] in all loins;
like that of women in travail; or of persons in a sudden fright, which gives them a pain in their backs at once: and the faces of them all gather blackness;
like a pot, as the Targum adds; being in great distress and disconsolation, which make men appear in a dismal hue, and their countenances look very dark and gloomy; see ( Joel 2:6 ) .

Nahum 2:10 In-Context

8 Like water from a broken dam the people rush from Nineveh! "Stop! Stop!" the cry rings out - but no one turns back.

9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The city is full of treasure!

10 Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, desolate! Hearts melt with fear; knees tremble, strength is gone; faces grow pale.

11 Where now is the city that was like a den of lions, the place where young lions were fed, where the lion and the lioness would go and their cubs would be safe?

12 The lion killed his prey and tore it to pieces for his mate and her cubs; he filled his den with torn flesh.